Critical WARNING: Cervical Cancer Vaccine Dangers

STOP - LOOK- AND LISTEN: As the FDA sits poised and ready to approve Gardasil the cervical cancer vaccine, for use in older women, there's startling new evidence that it may not be as safe as we are being led to believe.

In a new report uncovered by public interest group Judicial Watch, the FDA appears to have kept from the public records detailing a troubling total of some 3,461 serious or potentially serious adverse reactions - including as many as a dozen deaths - all allegedly linked to the Gardasil vaccine since it's FDA approval in June 2006. Adverse reactions linked to the vaccine have included paralysis and serious circulatory problems.

According to the Judicial Watch report - with data retrieved via the Freedom of Information Act - these additional worrisome statistics were recently uncovered:

• From May 10 to September 7, 2007, of the 1,847 adverse vaccination reactions reported to the FDA via the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), some 347 were considered medically "serious".


• The death toll linked to the vaccine given to young women is at 12 - and counting.


• Of the 77 women who received this vaccine while pregnant, 33 experienced side effects ranging from spontaneous miscarriage to fetal abnormalities.


• A range of serious side effects including paralysis, Bells Palsy, Guillain-Barre Syndrome and seizures have been reported.

This is of tatamount importance not only to women over 40, who may soon be offered the vaccine, but for our daughters and grand daughters, many of whom have already been encouraged by pediatricians and family doctors to have the vaccine. Currently, two states, Texas and Michigan have made it mandatory for girls aged 11 to 12 to have the vaccine, while other state and local governments are considering similar actions.

What does this mean for you? It doesn't mean turning away from a potentially life-saving treatment. It does mean knowing the facts, and making sure your doctor knows the facts, and having a serious conversation with your physician about your specific risks and benefits in regard to this vaccine.

Remember, this is not about removing the vaccine from the market - it's about intelligent use of it - and informed use. Every drug has it's side effects and risks. But in order to make an intelligent decision about whether the benefits outweigh the risks, you've got to at least know the risks.

Finding out a treatment has side effects is not shocking. Discovering it took a Freedom Of Information Act inquiry to find out about those risks is shocking.

Gardasil, manufactured by Merck, is approved for use in young women aged 9 to 26. It protects against several strains of HPV ( the Human papilloma virus) which is a leading cause of cervical cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, in 2008, about 11,070 cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed in the United States. ACS reports some researchers estimate that non-invasive cervical cancer (carcinoma in situ) is about 4 times more common than invasive cervical cancer.

ACS also estimates that some 3,900 women will die from cervical cancer in the US during 2008. While once a common cause of cancer death for American women, death rates have declined steadily over the past several decades, due largely in part to better screening that finds this cancer at an early and very treatable stage.

Cervical cancer, which is related to several strains of the HPV virus, is considered a sexually transmitted cancer, because the HPV virus can be passed on during intimate contact.